Short-changed? Not quite. Review on Nickel and Dimed - Barbara Ehrenreich

''Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America,'' by Barbara Ehrenreich, is an eye-opener on the plight of Americans living the American nightmare. It’s about working class people living outside the purview of welfare plans, barely making ends meet and completely overwhelmed –both physically and emotionally --by work to pursue anything else.

The author, a journalist and columnist for The New York Times, went undercover at the behest of Harper’s, in order to write about the lives of people making less than minimum wage, having little or no health insurance, working more than two jobs, and taking care of dependents. Their lack of awareness on benefits like health insurance was scary. According to the author, most of her colleagues didn’t ask any questions related to insurance and any other benefits they may enjoy on the job and just accepted whatever the manager told them.

Although the author was armed with a graduate degree, a little start-up cash and the option of falling back on a better life, she found it difficult to get by on the income she made as a waitress in Florida, a maid and a healthcare aide in Maine, and a Wal-Mart associate in Minnesota. She had to fib about her qualifications, stop herself from voicing her political views and disguise her motive from fellow workers.

She meticulously journals her everyday travails and thoughts to give readers a glimpse into the life of an average diner-waitress or cook, that we may not pay much attention to otherwise. She addresses very pertinent problems of health insurance, minimum wage and drug-testing at work-- side-stepping the issue of sexual harassment (although she mentions it in passing just once) -- and brings to our attention the state of welfare reforms and the red tape in government food schemes. Although she tries to keep it a rational first-hand account of her experience, she does lapse into a whine every now and then. It’s understandable considering she had to give up her secure, creative and comfortable (physically) job to relocate to different places and bust her chops for this assignment.

On the flip side though, the author was by herself during this experiment, so we can assume she got off fairly easy, whereas her colleagues had to go back to a family, feed and clothe more people, and take care of their medical problems. Plus the readers never get a view of the lives of the people that she worked with outside of the workplace, the kind of problems they had at home, etc. The other thing is why she didn’t approach a church for help. In spite of her non-religious sentiments, it would have helped her to follow the advice of a friend who suggests her to go to a church for assistance. Finally, the one question about the rent problems she was having: why didn’t she find a roommate?

Of course if this book succeeds at one thing, it will be this: it will make you more sympathetic to your fellow human beings, whether the government does something about raising the minimum wage or not! So you don’t spill your clothes all over Wal-Mart trial room and expect the arthritic 50-something associate to pick up after you, or leave a 25-cent to the waitress just because she didn’t smile enough!